A splash of The Little Mermaid + a shade of Beauty and the Beast =a perfect storm of passions gone amok…

“I would imagine that one meets a lot of interesting… beings, as the Great Sea.”Such as… plankton?, Muirigan wrote, not following the princess’s line of thought.“No, I mean people. Extraordinary more-than-people. Like the Moon, the Sun, the winds, like you. That’s what I’ve come all the way out here for, really – to find the more-than-man I love.”Who is he?, Muirigan asked.“I don’t know yet,” said Liliavaine, a little impatiently. “I have to find him first.”I see, said Muirigan, her expression carefully neutral. Do you agree to take my place, then?A rash, eager light in her eyes, Liliavaine nodded. “I do. …Erm, how do we do it?”Taking her by the hand, Muirigan led Liliavaine out into the water until it came up to her hips (rather lower on Liliavaine, as she was the taller of the two). There she stopped, and closed her eyes, concentrating.Then the pain began.

​The Sea’s storm brought them together, and the Sea’s ruleswill keep them apart, unless the mute but melodious Muirigan​can find another to take her place, freeing her to pursue the human man she loves. But when her plan collides with the schemes of the sly South Wind, a princess’s agenda to look for love in all the most fantastic places, and a prince whose head and heart have been long years at war, the result is a tragedy of errors from which the world might never recover.

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An enchantress’s curse turns a spoiled royal into a beast; a princess’s pricked finger places her under a hundred-year spell; bales of straw are spun as golden as the singing harp whisked down a giant beanstalk – all within sight of Wilderhark, the forest that’s seen it all.

You’ve heard the stories – of young men scaling rope-like braids to assist the tower-bound damsel; of gorgeous gowns appearing just in time for a midnight ball; of frog princes, and swan princes, and princes saved from drowning by maidens of the sea.

Tales of magic. Tales of adventure. Most of all, tales of true love.

Once upon a time, you knew them as fairytales. Know them now as Wilderhark’s.

The Surrogate Sea (Book Six of The Wilderhark Tales)

"A fanciful and innovative fantasy." - Jodi L. Milner, author of Breath (The Toll of Another Bell: A Fantasy Anthology)

"These books just keep getting better and better! Shipley has...written a book that totally tugged at my heartstrings and made me love her characters more and more!" - Emerald Barnes, author of Entertaining Angels​

"One thing I’ve always appreciated about the covers of the Wilderhark Tales novellas is that you can actually judge the books by them: they’re beautiful, they’re stylistically different from most of what one sees on the market, and each one seems better than the last. ... To date, Miss Shipley has written mildly rocky tales, fraught with as much amusement as angst, and tidily tied up with a happily-ever-after-until-next-time. In The Surrogate Sea, she maintains her wry-and-dry humor, but weaves a terrible tangle that can only end in tears. Whose? There’s no telling. This book hurts. It hurt the characters, it hurt me, and it’ll probably hurt you. Maybe I’m an awful person, but I love it for that." - Tirzah Duncan, author of Cry of the Nightbird